Tuesday, 3 December 2013

Thomas & Friends - All Around Sodor Interactive Train Set Review

I have
said it before, and I will say it again. Now that Leo is a fully fledged
toddler the toys have become so much more exciting. They move, make exciting
sounds and do so much more than they once did…

A real
love for Leo at this present time has to be trains, and one of his favourite
trains has to be the famous Thomas the Tank Engine. Leo was in his element on a
recent visit to Thomas Land at Drayton Manor, and so his love for the most
useful blue engine grew some more.

This
Thomas Set is a great size and is pretty simple to put together, it even comes
with a motorised Thomas train and cargo car. There are of course instructions
included within the box but as usual… I liked to look at the images on the
front of the box to see where they would all need to be positioned. Leo was
interested as soon as I presented him with the box, and instantly he was drawn
to the Thomas train that is strategically positioned in a presentation box
within the main box. So of course this meant that I could not get everything
set up quickly enough, and I knew then and there that this toy was going be
treasured.

This is
my 2 year olds very first motorised train set, unless of course you count the
Fisher-Price Animal Train that he had for his first Christmas… But in terms of
a grown up/big boy train set, this is his very first. As soon as Leo saw that
Thomas could move around independently, that was enough to bring the biggest
smile to his face and put that beautiful twinkle in his eyes.

This set
has had such a playing with, it has simply not been left alone since it rocked
up. Leo seems to just adore pushing the buttons on Thomas’s back, sitting down
and just watching Thomas run all around the tracks. In fact it prompted Leo to
start saying ‘tracks’ and pointing to them so he could tell me all about them.

Thomas
goes around the tracks smoothly and hasn’t been de-railed on many occasions,
unlike the Christmas train we have running around our Christmas Tree this year!
Suffice to say that when this Christmas train de-rails himself… Leo is far from
impressed. Thomas sticks nicely to the track and goes around when you press one
of the two buttons on his back. Thomas’s face is also motorised, his eyes move
from side to side, and he can even open his mouth!

What I
really liked about this set, aside from the rather super motorised Thomas, was
that he actually interacts with items as he passes them. When Thomas goes down
the slope on the track he exclaims ‘weeeee’. This gives the set another level
of play value for me, and definitely for Leo.

There
are 7 pieces of track to clip together, and then you have the train sheds with
a sticker of Thomas’s friends. Over on the other side of Sodor you will find
Cranky the Crane where you can place one of the barrels into the loading
station. You can even put another barrel into Thomas’s cargo car and really set
him to work as he steams around Sodor!

There is
no real assembly for this toy, everything comes ready to be clicked into place.
Even the sticker on the train sheds is already in place. This is always good
when you have an eager toddler who wants to play straight away, and of course
is good for parents like me who seem to avoid instructions…

It is a easy toy to store and we have got a reasonably sized storage box now so that we can keep all of the pieces together when we put it away. You could always keep it in the original box, but I find it takes up to much room, so when it is not in use we tidy it away.

This set
would be a hit even if your little one is not a serious Thomas fan, but for Leo
he loves it that little bit more because of who the train is. Ultimately this
set offers so many imaginative play scenarios, and I love watching Leo sit and
enjoy this set.

The
Fisher-Price Thomas and Friends, All Around Sodor retails at £39.99, but I have
sourced it on Amazon for £34.99 at the point of writing this review. If you
have a little Thomas fan, or a little one who simply loves trains, I would
highly recommend this train set.

Disclaimer: We were sent the Thomas and Friends All Around Sodor Train Set for the purpose of this review. All views and opinions expressed are completely honest and my own.

2 comments:

I just bought my daughter this train set for her 3rd Christmas I'm so looking forward to seeing her use it! She loves all things that go and asked for a train set this year. Unfortunately I couldn't fulfill the "Please make it rainbow." request but hopefully she will love it just as your son did.